Closure appliance for bottle capping machinery



1'. L. GOLDSMITH CLOSURE APPLIANCE FOR BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINERY Filed Feb. 23, 1951 June l6, 1953 2 Sheets-Sha e: 1-

INVENTOR June 16, 1953 'r. L. GOLDSMITH 2,642,213

CLOSURE APPLIANCE FOR BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINERY Filed Feb. 25, 1951 '2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.4. 13

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ATTORNE X3 Patented June 16, 1953 oLos-URE APPLIANCE FOR BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINERY Thomas Leslie Goldsmith, London, England, as-

signor, by mesne assignments, to Clarke-Built Limited, London, England, a British company Application February 23, 1951, Serial No. 212,286 In Great Britain February 23, 1950 This invention relates to bottle capping and has particular reference to a closing appliance for securing over the mouth of a bottle a deformable cap, said closing appliance being of the kind in which a cap resting loosely over the mouth of a bottle is adapted to contact with apressure element as said pressure element and/or the bottle move axially, for instance, relative to one another, such axial displacement being utilised to-eifect a contracting movement of lateral pressure means which act radially inwards to crush or crimp the depending wall of the cap around the lip of the bottle.

Moreover the improved appliance according to this invention relates to a type of the known kind of appliance, which type comprises a hollow housing, a pressure plunger axially displaceable within-said housing and adapted to contact the crown of a deformable cap loosely seated over the mouth of a bottle and a plurality of rigid circumferentially-spaced arcuate sections which together constitute a contractible ring assembly adapted to encircle the neck of a bottle and the depending wall or skirt of the cap seated thereon when the bottle-supported cap is pressed against the pressure plunger, said ring sections and the surrounding housing having interacting tapering surfaces which on relative axial movement between said ring sections and said housing cause the ring sections to swing radially inward to deform the skirt of the bottle cap.

2 Claims. (Cl. 22685) ing action of the appliance, namely, that instead of pivotally attaching the sections of the contractible ring assembly to the pressure plunger,

as has been done hitherto in appliances of this type, the ring sections are loosely supported for rocking on the pressure plunger in such a manner that as the radial contracting movement of the ring sections takes place the fulcrum points of said ring sections progressively change. As a result, instead of a sudden contractive movement, a gradual squeezing action is obtained which is better adapted to the smooth closure of thin-walled foil caps. Another advantage accrues from the elimination of pivot pins for the ring sections, namely that the construction of the ring assembly is more robust, since the pivots as hitherto used have inevitably been of small size and thus subject to rapid and uneven wear. As a result, where pivoted ring sections are used, excessive slackness may soon arise between the pivot pins and the associated ring sections and pressure plunger which tends to throw the ring sections out of alignment.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood an embodiment thereof will now be described with the aid of the accompanying drawings, wherein:

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved closing appliance of the type referred to, the improved appliance being especially adapted for securing preformed caps made of thin aluminum foil or similar readily deformable material over the mouths of milk and similar bottles.

The present invention provides a bottle cap securing appliance of the type referred to, which is characterised by the employment of a resilient bottle-cap skirt contacting element in theinterior of the contractible ring assembly, so as to be interposed between the rigid ring sections and the thin foil of which the preformed cap is made.

The'u'se of such a resilient cap-contacting elecording to this invention also includes a further feature which assists inobtaining a smooth work--" Figure l is a vertical cross section through the appliance,

Figure 2 is an inverted plan view, looking in the direction of arrow II, Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a sectional plan on line IIIIII of Figure l, and

Figures 4, 5 and 6 are fragmentary views, to an enlarged scale, showing relative positions as: sumed by the component parts of the appliance during a cap securing operation. In the embodiment illustrated in the drawing, the housing comprises a, vertically disposed hollow cylindrical shell I having a stepped bore, the lower part 2 of which is inwardly and upwardly tapered toward an upwardly facing shelf 3 provided about midway along the length of the shell bore. concentrically within the cylindrical shell isthe lower part of a vertically displaceable slidable pressure plunger 3, the underface of which is adapted to be contacted by the rim of an ascending bottle 5, a preformed cap 6 with a deformable skirt 1 having been placed on 'said bottle rim. The upper end of the plunger 4 is guided within a bushed boss 8 provided in the crown of' a dome-like cover 9 which is screwthreaded onto the upper part of the cylindrical shell I. ,Within the annular space formed between the pressure plunger 4 and encircling shell sembly of ring sections II, II. .--ponents of the appliance are in their normal inoperative positions the upper outer ribs I5, I5 on v the ring sections H, II constitute fulcrums upon which the sections II, II are supported by the I a lateral pressure applying means is provided in the form of a contractible ring assembly I 0. This contractible ring assembly consists of a number of circumferentially-spaced arcuate substantially rigid metal sections I I, I I, each section II having intermediately of the length of its inner face an inwardly directed rib I2. lhe ribs i2, I2 of the'plurality of sections II, II form fulcrums about which the sections II, II can rock, as described later. The fulcrum ribs 42, I2 of the sections II, IIenter an annular groove I3 formed in the periphery of the pressure plunger 4, the width of said groove I3 being greater than the thickness of the ribs I2, I2 so that the plunger 4 can partake of a prearranged axial -movement before axial movement is transmitted tapered bore 2 of the shell I. The other rib I5,

which is provided near the top end of the section II normally rests upon the shelf 3 in the encircling shell I. A coiled compression spring I6 encircles the guided shank ll of the pressure plunger 4, and is interposed between a collar I8 or the like on the plunger shank I! and the end of the boss 8 (or of the boss bush) in the crown of the cover 9, so as normally to urge the plunger 4 to the bottom of its stroke. Just below the level of the underface of the plunger 4 a round rubber cap-closure ring I 9 is accommodated within an internal groove 20 provided in the as- When the comshelf 3 in the cylindrical shell I and a garter spring 2i encircling the upper ends of the sections or, as shown, of a number of rods 22 extending upwards from saidsections I I, I 5, causes -.them to be rocked about the upper outer ribs I5, I5 so as to maintain the lower outer ribs I4,

I4 of the ring sections II, II in contact with the tapered bore 2 of the shell I1.

When a bottle 93 carrying a loose skirted cap 6 is moved upwards through the open bottom of --the shell I it contacts the pressure plunger 4.

and lifts it a prearranged distance befor the bottomof the groove l3 in the plunger 4 contacts with the internal ribs I2, I2 of the stationary ring sectons I I, I I by which time the lower part of the cap skirt 1 lies opposite the rubber. ring I9 held with the lower part of the ring assembly I0. Continued upward movement of the cap-bearing bottle 5 causes the pressure plunger -4 to lift the ring sectons II, II from off the shelf 3 in the cylindrical shell I, with the result that the narrowing tapered bore 2 of the shell I, by pressing on the lower outer ribs I4, Id of the ring sections I I, II, rocks said sections II, it in the plunger groove I3 on the fulcrum-forming internal ribs I2, I2 of the ring sections II, II,. .thereby forcing the rubber closure ring I9 in the lower part of the ring assembly I onto the skirt I of the cap 6 so as to deform it and thus secure a loose cap 6 (and with them the pressure plunger i) are effected against the resistance of the plunger spring I 6, so that whenthe capped,

bottle is lowered the plunger 4 follows and the plunger spring I5, aided by the garter spring 2I of the ring sections II, II, resets the components in their normal inoperative position.

Among other advantages of this construction of cap securing appliance may=be. named these, that the rubber. closure ring I9 can 'be removed and replaced without stripping the appliance or disarranging any of the other components, and

that as the rubber closure ring I9 is set so as to be slightly above the level of a cap-skirt receiving groove 23 in the bottle neck at the commencement of the capping operation, the rubber ring I9, during the capping operation, flows downwards into said bottle neck groove 23, thus giving a smooth stroking action to the skirt of the preformed cap.

An'importantfeature of this rubber closure ring i9 is'in its round section, which gives concentrated loading at the point required. Furthermore, only the minimum of force is required for a perfect closure. Another advantage is that a bottle cannot be held up in the appliance as the bottle top only partially enters the closure ring.

I claim:

1. A bottle cap closing appliance of the type specified comprising, in combination, a housing having an inwardly and upwardly tapering bore and a shelf above said tapered bore; a pressure plunger mounted centrally within said housing for vertical movement and having a downwardly directed head; first spring means biasing the plunger head toward thelower and larger part of the tapered housing bore; a-contractible ring assembly interposed between said tapered housing bore and said pressure plunger and constituted by a plurality of circumferentially arranged arcuate sections, each of said arcuate sections having a lower external projection for co-operating with said tapered housing here, an upper external projection for co-operating in fulcrum manner with said housing shelf and with an internal projection disposed intermediately of said external projections for co-operating with the upper side of the plunger head; a continuous elastic ring supported within the lower ends of said ring sections below the plunger head, and second spring means applying radially inward pressure to the ring sections to maintain the lower external projections .of said ring sections'in contact with the tapered housing bore, the arrangement being such that upward displacement of the plunger. by pressure-applied axially through a bottle bearing a loose cap causes the tapered housing bore first to swing said ring sections radially inwardly upon the upper outer projections resting on the upwardly facing hous- "ing shelf and then to lift the ring sections from arcuate sections engage a common external groove on the pressure plunger, the width of said groove being such that the pressure plunger is capable of an axial recedingmovement before the said plunger causes the'arcuate sections'ito rock inwardly.

THOMAS LESLIE GOLDSMITH.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 983,829 Lord Feb. 7,21911 1 1,990,536 Enock Feb. 12, 1935 42,339,119 Thomas Jan. 11,1944 

